Best Christmas crackers: budget, luxury and fill-your-own
The gift inside matters more than the price on the box. Here is how budget, luxury, fill-your-own and plastic-free crackers compare, with sizes, box counts and what to check before you buy.
The best Christmas crackers snap cleanly, hold a paper hat and a joke, and contain a gift someone keeps after Boxing Day. Price and length change the look on the table more than what falls out: when a Which? panel tested 11 luxury crackers in 2021, paying more mostly bought better-looking, greener crackers rather than better gifts, and the toy pictured on one box was not the one inside. Here is how the main types compare, which sizes are sold in the UK and what to check on the box.
Best Christmas crackers by type
Almost every cracker holds the same basics: a snap, a tissue hat and a joke. What changes from one box to the next is the gift, the materials and the number of crackers, and that is how the types below differ.
| Type | What is inside | Who it suits | What to check on the box |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional or budget | Snap, tissue hat, joke and a small novelty gift | Big family tables and children | Pictured gifts or just “assorted”, and the amount of plastic |
| Luxury | Snap, hat, joke and a gift meant to be kept, often in wood or metal, or something to eat or use | Dinners where the look of the table matters | The gift named on the box, recyclable card, usually 6 per box |
| Fill-your-own | Empty crackers with snaps, hats and jokes; you add the gifts | Personal gifts, mixed ages, dietary needs | The size of the middle chamber |
| Game crackers | Gifts that combine into one game, such as racing toys, a guessing game or bingo | Keeping the table busy after pudding | How many players the game needs |
| Food and drink | Chocolates, miniature spirits, spices or honey | Adult tables | Alcohol content and allergen information |
| Plastic-free | Recyclable card without foil or glitter, gifts in wood, metal, paper or seeds | Households that recycle | “Plastic-free”, “glitter-free” and FSC wording |
| Reusable | Fabric or tin crackers that you refill each year | Hosts who keep decorations for years | What you need to add each year: hats, jokes and gifts |
Browse our Christmas crackers collection with this table in mind: the box count and the gift description on each listing tell you which type you are looking at.
Wrendale Designs
Season’s Tweetings Christmas crackers, set of 6, with glass magnet
Budget crackers: what to expect
Family boxes at the cheaper end often hold 10 or 12 crackers of 12 to 14 inches (about 30 to 36 cm), each with a snap, a hat, a joke and a small novelty. The savings show in the card, the finish and the gift: in the same Which? test, the luxury crackers held little plastic compared with budget ones. Four checks before you buy:
- Pictured or “assorted” gifts: a box that shows its gifts tells you what to expect, while “assorted” tells you nothing.
- Foil and glitter: they catch the light, but check your council’s rules before foil-effect or glittered card goes in the paper recycling.
- Small parts: novelty gifts can include small pieces, so read the age warning on the box before a young child pulls one.
- Spares: choose a box count that leaves one or two over, in case a cracker fails or a guest turns up late.
Luxury Christmas crackers: what the extra money buys
A luxury cracker differs in its finish, from printed designs and ribbons to hand-decorated or hand-rolled ends, and in a gift chosen to be kept. Boxes usually hold 6 crackers and some makers sell them singly, which helps when you are laying a table for an odd number. Pick the design with the rest of your Christmas table decorations, since the crackers sit on the plates when guests arrive.
Gifts you find in luxury crackers
- Traditional toys made of wood, metal or rubber rather than plastic
- Seeds, honey wands and other small consumables
- Scented candles, with a different fragrance for each guest in some ranges
- Chocolates
- Miniature spirits with a mixer, for adult tables
- Spices for cooking, or small keepsakes such as a spoon or an egg cup
What the Which? test found
The 2021 Which? panel judged 11 luxury crackers on looks, cracker quality and gift quality. Paying more improved how the crackers looked and how green they were, but not reliably the gifts. Most were fully recyclable apart from the ribbons, and one box arrived with nothing inside at all: no gift, no hat, no joke and no snap.
Luxury crackers for adults
Crackers holding spirits or grown-up gifts belong at adult places only. Read the allergen information on food crackers if a guest has an allergy, and put children’s crackers at their own places so nobody swaps by mistake.
Fill-your-own Christmas crackers
Fill-your-own crackers come assembled but empty, with snaps, hats and jokes supplied: you add a gift to each and tie the open end. They let you choose a gift for each guest, and they sell well: when John Lewis announced in 2019 that its crackers would drop plastic toys, it said fill-your-own crackers made up one in three packets of crackers it sold. There are three ways to do it:
- Fill-your-own boxes: ready-made empty crackers; you add the gifts and tie the ends.
- Make-your-own kits: flat pre-cut card, snaps, tissue hats, jokes and ribbon; you roll and close each cracker. One craft kit makes 12.
- Reusable crackers: fabric or tin crackers you refill every year with your own hats, jokes and gifts.
Check the space inside
The gift shares the middle chamber with the folded hat and the joke. One craft kit for 30 cm crackers gives a chamber 9.5 cm long and 5 cm across, so keyrings, lip balms, wrapped chocolates and folded notes fit, while a mug or a candle in a jar will not. For gift ideas and the making steps, see our guide to what to put in homemade Christmas crackers.
Plastic-free and recyclable crackers
Crackers make a lot of waste for a few seconds of fun: an estimated 40 million end up in the bin on Christmas Day, according to a 2021 article by the Forest Stewardship Council’s UK office. In 2019 John Lewis and Waitrose announced that from 2020 their crackers would contain no plastic toys, and many other ranges now advertise plastic-free gifts.
How to recycle a cracker
- Take out the snap strip and any ribbon.
- Put plain card in the paper recycling.
- Check your council’s rules for glittered or foil-effect card before it goes in with the paper.
- Keep plastic gifts out of the paper bin.
Rules differ from one council to the next, so check yours before Christmas Day.
Labels worth reading
A cracker sold as plastic-free, glitter-free and foil-free is the easiest to recycle once the snap and ribbon are out. One labelled only “plastic-free” may still have a foil finish. An FSC logo means the card comes from certified sources.
Christmas cracker sizes and how many to buy
Cracker length is usually printed in inches. A longer cracker looks more generous across a plate, but length is no promise of a bigger gift.
| Length | In cm (approx.) | Usually sold as |
|---|---|---|
| 10 in | 25 cm | Children’s crackers |
| 12 in | 30 cm | Standard family dinner crackers |
| 13 in | 33 cm | Family and adult luxury boxes |
| 14 in | 36 cm | Larger-than-standard dinner crackers |
| 16 in | 41 cm | “King” size crackers |
How many crackers per guest
The usual rule is one cracker per place: guests cross arms and pull with the people on either side, so everyone gets two pulls. Boxes come in 6, 8, 10 and 12, so pick the count that leaves the fewest spares, or one or two on purpose.
| Guests | Boxes of 6 | Boxes of 8 | Boxes of 10 | Boxes of 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1 (2 spare) | 1 (4 spare) | 1 (6 spare) | 1 (8 spare) |
| 6 | 1 (exact) | 1 (2 spare) | 1 (4 spare) | 1 (6 spare) |
| 8 | 2 (4 spare) | 1 (exact) | 1 (2 spare) | 1 (4 spare) |
| 10 | 2 (2 spare) | 2 (6 spare) | 1 (exact) | 1 (2 spare) |
| 12 | 2 (exact) | 2 (4 spare) | 2 (8 spare) | 1 (exact) |
| 14 | 3 (4 spare) | 2 (2 spare) | 2 (6 spare) | 2 (10 spare) |
Can you take Christmas crackers on a plane?
Often yes, within limits. Because of the snap, aviation rules treat crackers as dangerous goods: the UK Civil Aviation Authority lists them next to party poppers. Its guidance allows Christmas crackers in checked and cabin baggage as long as they stay in their original retail packaging, but some airlines forbid them.
- Ask your airline first: some refuse crackers altogether.
- Keep them in the original retail packaging, as the Civil Aviation Authority requires.
- Pack them in checked luggage if you can: airlines and security staff can still refuse items.
- Check the rules of the country you fly to. In the United States, the TSA does not allow party poppers or fireworks in cabin or checked bags.
If you are spending Christmas away, it is simpler to have a box of Christmas crackers delivered to the address where you are staying.
Where Christmas crackers come from
The cracker is a London invention. Confectioner Tom Smith created it in 1847 from sweets wrapped in twists of paper with a love motto, and added the snap in 1860. Early boxes went by names such as “Bangs of Expectation” and Cosaques before “cracker” stuck. The paper hat came later, under the next generation of the family firm, which merged with Caley Crackers in 1953, and the Tom Smith name is still on cracker boxes today.
Crackers are pulled across the UK and Ireland, and in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. They remain much less common in the United States.
How to choose the best Christmas crackers for your table
- Count the places, children included, and pick a box count from the table above.
- Decide who the crackers are for. A box of luxury crackers for the adults and a box of 10-inch children’s crackers can work better than one compromise box.
- Read the gift description: a named gift beats “assorted”.
- If you want to recycle the card, look for plastic-free, glitter-free and foil-free on the box.
- Match the colours to your table: crackers sit on the plates and are part of the setting.
Our table decorations range has tablecloths, runners and tableware, so you can choose the crackers and the rest of the table together. Keep a list of Christmas cracker jokes to hand as well, in case a joke slip goes missing.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best luxury Christmas crackers in the UK?
Look for crackers that name the gift on the box, use recyclable card without glitter or foil, and come in boxes of about six. In a 2021 Which? test of 11 luxury crackers, the picks that did best had traditional wood and metal toys or consumable gifts rather than plastic, and paying more improved looks and green credentials more than the gifts. Compare the gift description before the brand name.
Which supermarket has the best Christmas crackers?
There is no fixed answer: supermarket ranges change every year and newspaper reviews rarely agree. Judge any box on the same points: a named gift, the cracker length, the number per box and whether the card can be recycled. A box that pictures its gifts is easier to judge than one that only says “assorted”.
What is the best British brand of Christmas crackers?
The oldest is Tom Smith, named after the London confectioner who invented the cracker in 1847, and the name is still used on crackers today. There is no official ranking of brands, and test results change from year to year. Judge each box on its gift and materials rather than the name.
Are Christmas crackers allowed on planes?
Often, with limits. Because of the snap, crackers count as dangerous goods: UK Civil Aviation Authority guidance allows them in checked and cabin baggage only in their original retail packaging, and some airlines forbid them. Other countries can be stricter, so ask your airline before you pack.
Is the UK the only country that has Christmas crackers?
No. Crackers were invented in London, but they are also pulled in Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. They are far less common in the United States, where a 2022 US news report still described them as fairly obscure.
What are Christmas crackers called in America?
Americans mostly use the same name, Christmas crackers, though the tradition is far less familiar there, and in American English “crackers” on its own usually means savoury biscuits. Families flying to the US for Christmas should check their airline’s rules before packing crackers.
What is the most expensive Christmas cracker?
The record-breakers are one-off publicity pieces, not shop crackers. In 2014 the luxury website VeryFirstTo presented bespoke crackers made by Simply Crackers, the dearest containing a yacht and priced at £3.7 million. Boxed luxury crackers in the shops cost a tiny fraction of that.
